What would happen if everyone suddenly became smart?

Sudden and Rapid Widespread Distribution of a High-Status Trait - A Sociological Analysis of an Interesting Situation in a XNUMXs Science Fiction Book - Brainwave by Paul Anderson

A productive individual trait (theoretical or practical), whether it is acquired or inherited, it is its distribution among the various individuals in society that determines the attitude towards the bearers of this trait. The greater its explosiveness, the less the attitude towards its subjects and vice versa.

As its issues diminish, so does its prestige in society increase (although there may be traits that at any level of circulation will have low status or no status at all). The geographical spread of an individual trait is by nature gradual. The number of purchasers of higher education in a given area is a function of a compatible education system and the values ​​of the society that encourages this education. The spread of the trait is inherently slow, especially when it comes to a high IQ. This trait, as an inherited trait is rarer. The higher the IQ, the lower the number of subjects of this trait.

The book "Brain Wave" (Anderson: 1980) describes a special situation in which, as a result of a unique situation, the number of those with a high IQ is rapidly distributed over the majority of the Earth's population and the social aspects of this phenomenon. "As a result of an electromagnetic force field partly created as a result of gyromagnetic activity of nuclear particles in a central region. . . the galaxy. . . which the solar system entered into. . . Applies. . . An incredible leap in the level of intelligence of any living creature with a brain. . . Suddenly the brake that acted on every living creature and to which it was adapted was removed. . . The physical structure of the brain is adapted to one set of speeds. . . And suddenly the speed changes" (p. 61-60). The result was a jump in IQ to the level of 400 and becoming a widespread phenomenon. This phenomenon finds its expression on two levels that are mutually influenced by each other - the individual level and the societal level.

individual level

Common IQ terms "are only valid within a certain range. Talking about an IQ of 400 points is meaningless. Intelligence at this level may already be something completely different from what we know"

(p. 39). It was a period of transition towards something new. During this period the individuals were completely restless "all the pointlessness of the individual's life - the misery of his work suddenly dawned on him, the narrow and meaningless limits of his beliefs and conventions - and he removed all these from him at arm's length" (p. 56). "Humanity as a whole is in a searching phase and trying to find solutions in a world that has lost its horizon" (p. 106). A new world of vision and perception and understanding opens up to the individual (p. 106). A recognition developed to find new challenges (p. 121).

"Man will not stop being motivated - but the choice will be knowing his personality, intellectually adapting to any given situation. Man will not turn you into a robot, certainly not, but neither will he resemble what was in the past" (p. 135).

"A man who takes on a form at will - the intellectual man - the infinite" will develop (p. 135).

As a result of these changes, people left their jobs at all levels because they seemed unimportant, because there are more interesting things in life (pp. 57, 62). "The feverish haste of days gone by is gone. . . Even though it was the middle of the week, it felt like a rest day" (p. 146). All the petty standards of the past and present have been changed (p. 82). "Every day the importance of the artificial exterior decreased. . . There was also an informal ease in the clothing - shirts with an open collar and jeans, along with new colorful experiments" (p. 106). Some of those walking the streets were almost completely naked (p. 146). At the same time, "something has been lost, something related to the old innocence that is no more." The things that we guarded at every vigil were taken from us by force, and we stand exposed in itself" (p. 108). "This new world of rootless intellect has lost all old dreams and loves" (p. 107). "This was one of our losses - the loss of the intimacy of being attached to one small corner of the earth" (p. 180).

תקשורת

As a result of the increase in IQ, non-verbal forms of communication developed. One word or a movement accompanied by it was enough to convey a complete message. "The style of conversation. . . completely changed. . . One word, a hand gesture, a hint in a facial expression was enough to convey a message between people who knew each other and with maximum efficiency" (pp. 59, 65, 90, 92, 106, 119). "In the entire world, millions of such groups have certainly been formed, creating their own dialects without relying on a past common to all or a large part of humanity. but only on a shared, private, individual past" (p. 92). "The postal services lost their meaning" - the use of teletypes was introduced to transmit transmissions (p. 153).

company level

The large number of workers who left their jobs damaged the delicate machinery of a society based on technology. "When the coal mining stops, all the steel industries go on strike, there are even quite a few workers who are willing to continue working" (p. 46). "Means of transportation are increasingly shut down with the resignation of thousands of workers" (p. 46).

"The train stations are empty and dark and dirty with waves of garbage not evacuated" (p. 54). "Newspapers did not appear at all, there was no one to operate the printing presses" (p. 45). "A significant number of the key people in Washington abandoned their jobs, apparently deciding that there are more interesting things in life than overseeing the more efficient execution of a law of so and so number." . . (p. 62). "Electricity rationing became more severe. Only a few power stations were still operating manned and secured by volunteers" (p. 65).

"Every society is based on any system of laws and restrictions, some of which are necessarily arbitrary and unreasonable. Now, too many people felt this arbitrariness at once, decided for themselves which laws were based on logic and which laws were not, and began to systematically violate those they did not like" (p. 57).

"Washington is losing its power day by day. Fewer and fewer people respond at all to the President's instructions and requests. The power in his hand is disappearing. A military government has already been declared in several areas, but any attempt to impose it will ignite a civil war. The reorganization will have to be carried out on a local basis" (pp. 62, 73).

"The economic crisis is getting worse, food riots in Paris, Dublin, Rome and Hong Kong" (p. 46). In New York, religious classes and riots develop in Harlem (p. 45).

"There is no longer any economic justification left for the existence of huge volumes" (p. 92). "Myths, symbols and dreams were broken" (p. 99). "Suddenly it turned out that every man, woman and dog wanted to live in the village, the development of transportation and communication forged the isolating factors" (p. 143). "The city has finished its role" (p. 147).

Conclusions

A change in the external environment causes an increase in the level of intelligence "and intelligence at this level may already be something completely different from what we know". There are changes in the sets of images, perceptions and expectations of the individuals and it is true that myths, symbols and dreams have been broken. The result-changes in the essence of the cutting place, that is, fundamental changes in the contents of the company. This reality is "a new world of perception and understanding". The motivations now carry new challenges and content. A new type of man is developing - the intellectual man. It is even possible to speak of an intellectual society. There has also been a change in the presentation of the individuals themselves. There is a greater willingness to present themselves as they are without considering what their environment thinks of them. A demand/willingness relationship develops disguised as a natural self-presentation - a willingness to demand from their environment to accept them as they are and a willingness to see the environment as it is. These relations find their expression in the reduction of the "importance of the artificial externality. . . There was also an informal ease in the clothing - shirts with open collars and jeans, along with new colorful experiments" and some walking the streets almost completely naked.

The "new world of vision and perception and understanding" dwarfs the nature of the work and goals of the individuals against the intellectual potential they face and their newly developed skills. Most of them resign to satisfy their motives. These mass resignations cut all levels of society and work, starting with the coal miners and ending with key people in the government. The entire division of labor is collapsing. The substantive changes in reality cause changes in the perception of the system of laws and restrictions. The individuals "decided by themselves which laws are based on logic and which laws are not based" - the governing system is collapsing and the evidence for this is that "less and less people respond at all to the president's orders and requests. The power in his hand is disappearing. . . The reorganization will have to be carried out on a local basis."

The development of non-verbal communication led to the formation of millions of groups "that create their own dialects without relying on a past shared by all of humanity or a large part of it, but only on an individual shared past". The differentiation is on an individual basis. Groups of groups that bind them together is their individual idioms and their own interpretation of the laws, what's more the relationship between individuals and themselves, between individuals and groups and between groups and groups is done on a telepathic basis. There is no need for a physical communication system to transmit transmissions. Each group wants to live for itself. The city becomes meaningless. Contributing to this are the mass resignations following which factories are shut down, newspapers are shut down, the operation of the trains is brought to a standstill and the ever-increasing interruptions in the electricity supply. Everyone wants to live in a village - the conventional settlement system is also collapsing. The grouping of individuals on the basis of their private dialects and their own interpretation of the laws while being willing to move from an urban to a rural way of life inevitably lead to joint ownership of the land and cooperation in immediate areas such as economy and society. Action-Gemeinschaft frameworks are created (Kiman 1979:163-160) Each group is a Gemeinschaft unto itself. There is a differentiation for Gemeinschafts. The company withdrawing from a corporation to a Gemeinschaft. There is a possibility that this is even a withdrawal from an organic Likud to a mechanical Likud (Durkheim 1979: 136-138). Due to the breakdown of all systems, any group can develop strict rules to maintain its existence.

Summary

"Brain wave" describes as mentioned what happens in society when a high-status trait is amplified by several orders of magnitude and spread suddenly, quickly and on a global scale. In the situation as it is, that is, in the known society, the number of people with high intelligence - when an IQ level of 160 is considered the highest - is small and their subjects can be considered as people with charisma, when charisma is delegated to them by virtue of this quality. When this trait is distributed in the entire society, the treatment of these people as charismatic people decreases and the routine (routinization) of the trait is created here. A directly proportional process is taking place here. As the number of people with a charismatic trait increases, the degree of routinization increases.

When the feature is enhanced, the reality also changes. The development of a new world of vision and perception and understanding lead to the breaking of myths, symbols and dreams while creating a new type of person - the intellectual person. The habituation of the trait and its empowerment is a necessary step in the transition from the thinking man to the intellectual man. This process can be slow and can be extremely fast as it is shown in "brain wave". The rapid process is defined as sublimation of the feature. Sublimation of a feature can cause the collapse of the entire society in all its systems - in the division of labor, in the settlement structures and in the governmental system. A possible process is a new assessment of the population on the basis of small groups - a very large number of groups such as the cases presented in the book. Each group has its own language and interpretation of the law. Each group and its reality. In a given unit of time, the number of realities is the same as the number of groups. In a situation where large social frameworks such as cities and countries break up into a very large number of groups at a level that can be even smaller than a tribal level, it is likely that there will not be a common intersection point for all or most of the sets of images, perceptions and expectations. There will be a very large number of intersection points.

A conclusion reached in the description of the conclusions of the piece described a situation of withdrawal to a mechanical Likud due to the desire to maintain the existence of the groups. Another situation is possible. "Brain wave" describes the intellectual person as "a person who takes shape at will". As soon as a person in a given group finds it appropriate that his group's interpretations of the laws cease to be his interpretations and/or develops his own private dialect, he will withdraw from it and look for other partners. The association with any group is a fluid association. This association creates a "new world." . . of a rootless intellect that has lost all dreams and old loves"; "the loss of intimacy in attachment to one small corner of the earth".

A rapid sublimation of IQ may cause regressive changes in the structure of society. Transition from Gazellesft to Gemeinschaft and transition from Organic Likud to Mechanical Likud. When the affiliation is permanent, the group will have the characteristics of a Gemeinschaft company or a mechanical Likud. When the affiliation is liquid and short-term, the company is a liquid company and the characteristics of the Gemeinschaft or the mechanical Likud are ad hoc characteristics.

Sources

• Anderson Pol-Gal Moh, Maariv Publishing House, 1980, 185 p.
• Charles Keiman-The Classical Sociological Theory Dekal Publishing House 1979 208 p.